No Census Data No Subsidies, Say Sinebare

By Sally Tiwari – Via The National

All schools in the country are registered with the education department, says education secretary Dr Musawe Sinebare.

He was clarifying a report in this newspaper this week quoting Prime Minister Peter O’Neill as saying there were “ghost” schools which were receiving government subsidies but did not have any existing facilities.

“The Department of Education assures the public that all schools are registered with the Education Department through the education system and such media reports cause confusion among the public,” Sinebare said.

He said O’Neill could have been referring to the 2,981 schools which had not submitted their enrollment or census data.

Sinebare said subsidies were paid to schools each year according to the school census data provided to the department by each school.

Schools that do not provide census data are referred to as “schools with nil data” – but they are registered with the education department.

“Schools with nil data will not receive subsidy payments until they provide census data as subsidy is paid according to enrollment figures,’’ he said.

The provincial education office advises schools with nil data to provide census data if they want to qualify for subsidy payments.

The provincial education advisers have been directed to provide information on the number of schools in their provinces with nil data.

The information should include operational bank account details and student enrollment figures by Jan 23.